A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

On Quora, Justin Mihalick asks: Were the films Star Trek V: The Final Frontier and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country the two worst Star Trek films with the original cast? No. I do not agree with that supposition, at least not as far as  Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country  is concerned. Of the six  Star Trek  feature films released between December 1979 and December 1991, actor-director William Shatner’s  Star Trek V: The Final Frontier  is considered by most fans and film reviewers to be the weakest of the bunch. It got low marks for its low-budget special effects, an uneven script, a story twist that the late Gene Roddenberry disliked intensely (although, to be fair to Harve Bennett, David Loughery, and William Shatner, Roddenberry disliked many of the movies’ concepts, such as the more militaristic aspects of Starfleet introduced by Nicholas Meyer in  Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan ), and cheesy humor that was added into the scri...

Will Star Trek have any new movies coming out with the original cast and not the new actors? Let me get this straight. You’re asking if Paramount will release  new  films starring the cast from the Original Series and the first six feature films instead of the cast from the Kelvin Timeline movies? The answer to that is a definitive “No.” DeForest “Dee” Kelley, who played Dr. Leonard “Bones” McCoy, MD, died in 1999. James Doohan, who played Chief Engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, died in 2005. Leonard Nimoy, who played Spock, died in 2015 Grace Lee Whitney, who played Yeoman (later Commander) Janice Rand, also died in 2015 The rest of the cast, including William Shatner, has an average age of 80+. With three of the  Enterprise  “Big Four ”  cast members dead and quite a few of the supporting cast members are either dead or no longer active in the acting business, making a new feature film with the Original Series cast is next to impossible....

© 1973 Filmation and Paramount Television. STAR TREK © CBS Studios Someone on Quora asked this question: In Star Trek: The Animated Series, why was Chekov replaced by an officer with three arms as the ship's navigator? In 1973, when Filmation got the contract from NBC and Paramount Television (the entity that inherited the Star Trek intellectual property after Paramount Pictures purchased Desilu in 1967) to produce Star Trek: The Animated Series , it faced one of the main issues that dogged creator/producer Gene Roddenberry when he was making the live action show: budget limitations. Television networks are nothing but penurious when it comes to paying for production costs under most circumstances. They are, after all, a business entity and not a charity ward for actors, writers, producers, and directors, and they’re only willing to shell out top dollar for proven genres and well-known talent because, in the suits’ estimation, that’s what gets the audience to park its ...

Why is  Star Trek: The Animated Series  not often spoken of or given the same recognition as the other  Star Trek  shows? Star Trek: The Animated Adventures of Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek,  as it was officially marketed, has a complex history as to its canonicity within the  Star Trek  franchise. When it was created in the mid-1970s, most of the people involved in its creation treated the series as a continuation of  Star Trek: The Original Series. (TOS).  After all, it was created and executive produced by Gene Roddenberry, it featured the voices of  most  of the main cast members (including William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, and DeForest Kelley) except Walter Koenig (Ensign Pavel Chekov), who wasn’t hired due to budget issues. (Koenig  did  participate on the writing end; he penned the script for  The Infinite Vulcan. )  Most of the scripts were written by men and women who had written episodes for the l...

The Deadly Years   Stardate 3478.2 (Earth Calendar Date 2267)   Episode Production Number: 60340   Episode Number (Aired): 40   Original Air Date: 12/8/67   Writer: David P. Harmon   Director: Joseph Pevney       " Captain's log, stardate 3478.2. On a routine mission to resupply the experimental colony at Gamma Hydra IV, we discovered a most unusual phenomenon. Of the six members of the colony, none of whom were over thirty, we found four had died and two were dying ... of old age. "  During the third year of her five-year deep space mission, the  Starship Enterprise,   Capt. James T. Kirk  (William Shatner) commanding, arrives at the experimental colony on Gamma Hydra IV.  Her assignment, to resupply the team of six Federation scientists – none of whom are over the age of 30 – who are assigned  there.  Capt. Kirk, First Officer Spock (Leonard Nimoy), Dr. Leonard McCoy (DeForest Kelley),  Ens. Pa...

  Star Trek: The Motion Picture – The Director’s Edition (2001) Directed by Robert Wise Written by Harold Livingston, based on a story by Alan Dean Foster Starring: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Stephen Collins, Persis Khambatta In December of 1979, more than a decade after NBC canceled Gene Roddenberry’s now-classic Star Trek television series, the crew of the Starship  Enterprise  set forth on its first big screen adventure, Star Trek: The Motion Picture. When a powerful living machine destroys three Klingon battle cruisers on the edge of the Neutral Zone and takes a direct course for Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk (William Shatner) returns to the recently refit USS  Enterprise.  Along with his reluctant first officer, Commander Will Decker (Stephen Collins) and the veteran officers who served with him during the  Enterprise’s  legendary five-year...